What are the best FREE sites for gluten free recipes or regular recipes that I can convert to gluten free? I don't want muffins and breads. I need actual dinners that I can make in the evening. I always see so many nasty looking recipes, and I just can't seem to find a good site. Starting a new job, and I need to find quick, healthy meals made from whole foods. My family does not avoid gluten, but I am gluten, dairy, corn and bean free. I know how to make most everything gluten free, but I'm out of ideas. I don't want to eat a bunch of quinoa and such. My family just won't tolerate it. Thanks.

I know your frustration. I diagnosed myself. I decided not to put myself through the biopsy because of the general lack of knowledge of the disease, high rate of misdiagnosis, further damage to my body with anesthesia and the actual biopsy, and the fact that my symptoms went away after going gluten, dairy, legume, corn, soy free. I cave in on the dairy at times, but it's very limited. I don't need any doctor to tell me what I already know. There are no real benefits in actually being diagnosed. If avoiding foods does not help you, then further investigation is warranted. Keep in mind, however, that many symptoms can take months or more to improve because of the extent of damage to your gut. If life were perfect, I would run away to a detox facility for at least a month, eat no grains of any kind, be a vegetarian, do colonics and let my gut heal. This is just a dream of mine though. In all seriousness though, if you are struggling too much, you should consider a two week complete detox to eliminate toxins, begin the healing of the gut, and prep you for an elimination trial. Once you are detoxed, you can add suspect foods little by little, testing them and slowly eliminating the trigger foods from your life for good. It's taken more than a year for my symptoms to worsen, and to convince me that I have to eliminate yet another food group. Good luck!

Celiac disease and/or gluten intolerance has everything to do with your thyroid. I've struggled with my weight my entire life. However, the real problem with weight developed once my celiac disease flared and really showed itself. My TSH levels were at 3.5 when I was first tested, and struggling to lose weight. My struggle included a fantastic diet, before I knew about gluten, 4-5 days/wk at least at the gym, swimming at the pool, running (which let me tell you I am not a runner, I also have asthma and a fast heart rate), taking care of my kid, husband, house, and any other physical activity that I could manage. I only lost 5 lbs from the month of May through November. That's when I had my thyroid tested, and it was at 3.5.
I gave up most gluten, maybe about 75%-85%, and then had my thyroid tested again 6 mos later. My TSH dropped to 3.2. Now, all of this time, I had a raging round rash of tiny red blistery looking things on my hand...itched out of control. I googled it, and finally came to realize that not only is gluten my problem, but I actually have celiac disease, and dermatitis herpetiformus is a rash associated with it. So, I gave up gluten 100%, and the rash disappeared in 3 days, after raging non stop for more than 8 months. Two months after quitting gluten 100%, I retested my thyroid, and it came back at 2.8. Significant change in my TSH, in a much shorter amount of time than before.
I also had severe bouts with vertigo, imbalance, faintness upon standing, severe hot flashes, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, chronic sinus infections and congestion, never ending allergies, asthma, short term memory loss, forgetfulness, and one of the worst...severe, severe fatigue. I can't remember what else right now, there are just so many that I can't even keep track anymore.
I did start to lose weight after I realized that I had a disease, and gave up gluten. It's not incredibly fast or anything, but I went from only losing 5 lls in 6 mos to losing a total of 23 within only 4 mos of quitting gluten.
It's been about 6 months since I gave up gluten for good. And I'm still discovering what I can and cannot eat, and eliminating all items that have hidden gluten. My symptoms are worsening with time. I've become highly sensitive to all of the no no foods. I now know, after 1 1/2 years of pure hell, that I can't eat gluten, dairy, legumes, corn, and I choose to not eat soy, except small amounts of tamari sauce(gluten free soy sauce) and some packaged foods that have soy flour, but it's rare that I do that.
I just had my thyroid retested last week, and I expect to hear something within the next few days. I don't think there will be much improvement because I keep eating cross contaminated foods in restaurants, and also just learning what I can and cannot eat, like legumes. I recently figured this out. I didn't even realize it, and baked some chocolate chip cookies the other day...not thinking that the flour mix contained garbanzo flour. I was having symptoms for several days when I realized that it must be a the beans. Btw, I used dairy free, soy free chocolate chips. Plus, I do have milk in my chai about once a week or so, sometimes creamer in my coffee. I'm trying really hard to break this habit. In the end, it only inflames my gut, keeps the fat on, and agitates my asthma. I gained 5+lbs in the last month because I wasn't on my guard as much as before, and I couldn't be as active as usual. Still working hard, and watching my diet better than your average person...but, this is life with celiac. And, again, my symptoms are worsening and sensitivities are arising with other foods. So, I'm not sure what my thyroid results will be.
But, I can happily say that my vertigo has completely disappeared (and my sisters have this problem too, just won't listen to me), my asthma has drastically improved (it's Exercise Induced Asthma), my balance is incredible as compared to before (doing yoga, tap dance and boot camp as therapy to rebalance my left side), the brain fog has lifted, my memory is sharp, and I'm learning new things and retaining information once again, no more hot flashes (unless I've been contaminated), faintness almost entirely gone, sinuses better but not perfect, and fatigue went away when I did a full enema and flushed out my gut. Fatigue was gone the next day. I do struggle some days, but I also unknowingly consume certain no no foods.
I know all of that stemmed from a question about thyroid, but gluten will throw your entire body out of whack...digestive, respiratory, endocrine...you name it, there is an effect. It's a hideous disease.

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Celiac.com was founded in 1995 by Scott Adams, author of Cereal Killers, founder and publisher of Journal of Gluten Sensitivity, and founder of The Gluten-Free Mall, who had a single goal for the site: To help as many people as possible with celiac disease get diagnosed and living a happy, healthy gluten-free life!